Stakeout (Aurora Sky

by Nikki Jefford

  I stomped into the hallway and pounded on the bathroom door. “Trudy, where the hell are my things?”

  The shower stopped. Silence followed until I pounded again.

  “Trudy, I said where the hell are my things?”

  “Noel?” Her voice wavered at first. “Is that you?”

  “No, it’s your stalker.” Okay, that was mean and not something I liked to joke about, but I was seriously pissed off. Clearing out my room behind my back was one of the most heinous things any chick had ever done to me.

  Trudy yanked the door open a foot. She had a cream-colored towel wrapped around her body. Her hair hung dripping and tangled over her bare shoulders.

  “You scared the hell out of me!” she snapped.

  “Where are my things?” I demanded.

  “Your things?” Trudy opened the door wider and glared at me. “Your dad came by and got all your stuff. He said you asked him to. I figured you didn’t want to face us after taking off without notice.”

  “I didn’t take off,” I cried at the same time my mind screamed, “That asshole!” In my agitation, my arms and hands began gesturing through the misty air entering the hallway. “I was out of town for a couple days.”

  “You were gone a week.”

  “Five days. Anyway, the point is I was of town and now I’m back and my stuff is gone.”

  Trudy’s fist tightened around her towel. “Your dad said you were moving back home. Why would he lie?”

  “Because he’s a pathological liar!” I yelled. That’s it, my temper had reached boiling point two seconds ago, and now I was overflowing with emotion.

  Trudy’s eyes narrowed on me. “Don’t yell at me, Noel.”

  I glared back. “What am I supposed to wear now? Where am I supposed to sleep?”

  “So go get your things back.”

  Words failed me as I stared into Trudy’s face. Would she retrieve her things if it meant going through the gates of hell to get them back? Why not shove me directly into the fire pit? Maybe douse me with kerosene while she was at it.

  Conniving Clive. Hadn’t lost his touch. He couldn’t force me to leave, so he’d hijacked the few possessions I’d amassed since leaving home. That left me with the dirty clothes in my duffel and what I had on right now.

  I turned on my heel and retrieved my duffel bag.

  “Thanks to you, I’m now homeless!” I yelled at Trudy as I passed her on my way to the door.

  Her lips formed a tight frown.

  I took my key to the apartment off my key ring and threw it on the kitchen counter then stormed out the door. The outer hallway echoed with the sound of my angry footsteps. The walls felt like they were closing in on me. I wanted so bad to get out, but at the same time, I had nowhere to go.

  The touch of the cold air calmed me as I took shallow breaths outside. I dumped my duffel bag in the trunk of my car and pulled out my phone, dialing my go-to girl first thing.

  “Hey, Whit. I need a place to crash.”

  “Oh my God, Noel, I’m so sorry. I’m grounded. Like seriously grounded.”

  My heart dropped. “What about Hope?” I asked, knowing the answer wouldn’t be good.

  Whitney sighed. “Her mom kicked her out... again. She’s staying with her cousin. Aren’t you close with Aurora? Why don’t you ask her?”

  Mrs. Sky hadn’t looked too happy the time I came over to talk to Aurora. Asking felt awkward. I’d rather not share all my personal shit with her. Suddenly I wouldn’t be Noel Harper, the tough, poetic undercover vampire hunter. I’d be Noel Harper, the pathetic girl who tried to take her own life because she was too weak to deal with reality. Noel Harper, whose own father tormented her, stalked her, and stole her stuff.

  I doubted Aurora would be able to understand what I was going through. She’d grown up with nice, normal parents. She’d mentioned her dad taking off, but it wasn’t like she was five anymore. In several months, she’d graduate from high school. Before her car accident, she’d lived a sheltered life. She’d never skipped class, gotten wasted, or had sex. Even that stuff seemed like minor detours on her path down the straight and narrow. Now she was working her ass off to graduate and keep things as normal as possible.

  Aurora was a stubborn one. Nothing could ever be normal for us again. We were linked by blood to vampires, and it was our duty to keep innocent people safe from rogue vamps. Somebody had to do it. We had that in common. I supposed it was a sort of lifelong bond. Like sisterhood.

  I took a deep breath and dialed Aurora’s number. It went straight to her answering service.

  Now what?

  If I called Melcher he’d place me with one of his staff members until he found something more permanent. Been there, done that. The last thing I wanted right now was a parental figure watching over me.

  Even a cheap motel was out of my budget for more than three days. I needed a temporary place to crash, and I needed it now.

  My brain wasn’t processing. Perhaps my phone had the answer. Making my way down my list of contacts, I paused on Fane Donado. He’d helped in a heartbeat when Aurora’s life was at stake. Would he help me?

  I pressed “dial” before I could wimp out.

  “Yes, Noel?” he said with a hint of irritation.

  Well, no going back now.

  “I need your help.”

  “Is Aurora okay?” Fane asked, his voice suddenly changing to one of concern.

  Maybe I should have been flattered that guys didn’t perceive me as a damsel in distress. Then again, maybe I should’ve felt annoyed.

  “Aurora’s fine,” I said. “It’s me. I’m in trouble, and I’ve got no one to help me. I wouldn’t have called if I had someone else.”

  Fane’s voice softened. “Where are you?”

  “In my car, outside my former apartment, which was emptied by my father this weekend. He didn’t leave me anything, Fane.” My voice cracked. Oh, no. God, no. Once it started cracking, there was no holding it together. The world crumbled and fell apart once that first tiny fissure entered my voice. “All I’ve got is the clothes on my back and nowhere to go.” I began sobbing. There was no holding back.

  “Hey,” Fane said, sounding firmer now. “You do have somewhere to go. You remember where I’m at?”

  “Yes,” I said, sniffing.

  “So come over now, and we’ll figure this out.”

  I started crying harder.

  “It’s going to be okay,” Fane said. “I’m home so you can head over now.”

  “Okay,” I choked out.

  “See you real soon, Noel.”

  I ended the call and began wailing. No way was I showing up in such a mess. I had to get it out of my system first. Clive had done it again, torn me to shreds without even placing a finger on me.

  He’d come into what was supposed to be my safe place, invaded my sanctuary, taken away all my things—crappy things, but they were mine. Then he had the mad idea to use those scraps of my life like cheese in a mousetrap.

  After I’d gotten all the angry tears out of my system, I dug out a black T-shirt from my duffel and mopped up my face.

  I’d sworn to myself I’d never let Clive make me cry again. This time, I meant it.

  Straightening my shoulders, I drove across town to Fane’s duplex. I’d been there once before, when I brought bandages to patch Aurora up after she’d been stabbed multiple times by her vampire captives. It wasn’t as though they could drink her blood. Aurora had been in critical condition. Guess I wasn’t the only one having a bad year.

  I took the closest spot on the street, not wanting to take up space in the driveway. My heart skipped a beat as I walked up to the front porch. I’d left my duffel bag in the car, as I didn’t want to go making presumptions that Fane would really take me in. Maybe he’d simply talk to me, tell me to suck it up, and send me on my way.

  A sob threatened to work its way up my throat. I swallowed it down. No more fissures. No more cracks.

  Before I got to the door,
it swung open. Fane ushered me inside. I stomped the snow off my combat boots on the mat in front of the door then unlaced and removed them from my feet.

  Fane’s roommate had stopped reading his book on the couch to watch my every move. I’d nearly forgotten about him. At least he wasn’t putting up a fuss like he had the last time I was here.

  “Come in,” Fane said. “Make yourself comfortable. You remember my roommate, Joss?”

  I inclined my head slightly. Joss made no movement or comment, just kept staring at me like I was some kind of circus freak. Guess it didn’t help that he knew I was an undercover vampire informant. I was as good as a rat in his eyes.

  Fully aware of the two vampires watching me, I stepped across the room to a big leather armchair, sat and curled my legs in. It spoke volumes that I felt safer with vampires than my own father.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” Fane asked.

  “A cup of tea?” Joss asked suddenly, leaning forward on the couch.

  I was surprised by the warmth in his voice, which didn’t match his expression. Unlike Fane, he had a strong accent, which was obviously European—British sounding.

  “Uh...” I looked between Joss and Fane.

  Fane grunted. “She doesn’t want tea. Noel wants a drink, am I right? Something strong?”

  “Sounds good.” Sure. Why not? Something to numb the pain.

  While Fane was in the kitchen, I avoided Joss’s stare by looking around the living room. There was a lot of antique furniture. Everything was tidy, but not sterile. It all looked cozy in a bookish sort of way. It fit Fane’s roommate, sitting with a hardback book in one hand and a mug of what I could only assume was tea in the other. I’d always pictured Fane with something more retro, black lights and glow-in-the-dark skulls, for instance.

  Fane returned with a glass of red wine and something tinted pink with a slice of lime on top. He handed me the pinkish drink.

  “Thank you,” I said, taking it from his pale fingers. The cold liquid felt good going down my throat, which had burned with tears not that long ago.

  Fane sat beside Joss on the couch and crossed one leg over the other. “What happened?”

  Normally I wasn’t fond of sharing my home life with anyone else. To speak of it made it real. Made me sound weak. Made me a victim.

  But there was something so candid about the way Fane looked at me. He was the only person I’d ever met who I felt I could spill all my guts out to. And then there was Joss. The book lowered to his lap.

  I wasn’t sure what it was about him, but I didn’t care if he listened in. From the little I knew of Joss, which was very little considering my job was to know at least something about the vampires I came into contact with, the guy was a recluse. Probably wouldn’t survive in this everlasting life of his without Fane.

  The ice crackled inside my glass as I drank half the cocktail. I eyed the floor, looking for a place to set it. Fane pointed to a coaster on the coffee table. Once I’d gotten up, set it down, and resettled, I opened my mouth to speak. I’d planned to start with recent events—Clive finding me, taking my things, or maybe start with the suicide attempt, but when the words came out they were from much further back than that.

  “When I was twelve, I once left a carton of milk out all day. When my dad came home and saw it, he very calmly picked up the carton, brought it to me, and made me drink the entire thing. It was in the summer time, and it had started to sour.” My nose wrinkled. “It had this rancid taste from the very first sip. I told him no. Then he grabbed my arm and squeezed it until I thought my bones would break. He did that a lot. I used to wish he’d break my arm, snap my bones so I could show the world something physical my daddy had done to me, but since he was a physician, he knew just the right amount of pressure to apply without damaging the bone or tissue. My skin never even turned blue. Doctors,” I said, as though it were a joke—like one of those stereotypes. Lawyers as sharks. Teachers as bookworms. Doctors as monsters who hurt their own children when they were supposed to be healers.

  Fane set his wineglass on the coffee table.

  “Anyway, he terrified me, so I started drinking the milk. A third of the way through I felt like I was going to throw up. I started gagging, but he didn’t care. He grabbed me by my jaw, pinched my nose and began forcing the milk into my mouth. It started running down my chin and neck and clothes, dripping all over the floor, but still he kept forcing it. Then I threw up. He stepped back just in time to avoid the mess. I’ll never forget his face. He looked at me with so much disgust. Me. I disgusted him. Not his behavior.” I tapped a finger on the tight leather armrest, watching my black nail move up and down. “I thought at least that was the end of it but after I was done heaving he forced me to finish the last of the milk.”

  I don’t know why I’d chosen that story. There were so many. Endless tales of insanity. I figured that had been the first time it really hit me that my dad wasn’t just cruel, he was crazy, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.

  I stared at the floor. Fane and Joss didn’t speak, so I kept talking. “He was never the kind of man who yelled or got angry. The calmer he was, the scarier. He always took this sorta sick delight in tormenting me, my mom, and little brother. He got this light in his eyes. Pain. Fear. He thrives off the suffering of others.”

  “You said he’s a doctor?”

  I looked at Fane, who looked back at me with the kind of certain patience a lion uses to watch a zebra passing through the savanna.

  “Where does he work?” Fane prodded.

  A sick thrill ran through my body with the initial thought that Fane meant to kill him. Did that make me as demented as Clive? Could killing be justified when it meant ridding the world of a truly evil person? A man who hurt people and would continue until his dying breath?

  Fane held my gaze.

  “Valley Hospital,” I said.

  He nodded. “I’ll stop by tomorrow.”

  The way Joss made a stink last time Fane got involved with Aurora’s kidnapper, I expected him to make another big fuss now, but his lips remained closed.

  Fane leaned forward. “You can stay here until you find a new place.”

  Again, Joss didn’t protest.

  “Thank you,” I said. “Hopefully it won’t be too long.”

  This was super nice of Fane and all, but I needed my own space as soon as possible.

  “Sorry we don’t have a spare bedroom,” Fane said. “But we’ll make the couch comfy.”

  “A couch is all I need.”

  “Do you have pajamas? A change of clothes?”

  “I’ve got a few things in my car.”

  Good thing I had clothes from the trip to Fairbanks. Little did I know I’d be bringing them into Fane Donado’s home.

  Fane went to school the next day. I didn’t.

  He walked by the couch and into the kitchen. The fridge door opened and closed quietly, and then he went out the front door, shutting it gently behind himself. None of the blasting through the room with a song on his lips like Dante.

  I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling, trying to come up with one good reason to get off the couch. Almost everything I owned had been taken. I had no place to live. Gavin was with Valerie. I rarely got to see my friends anymore. My friendship with Aurora was on shaky grounds. It was a little hard to put in the effort with my life falling apart all around me, and I’d never been a complainer. My shit was my problem... and now Fane’s.

  Something was going down today, and that thought pumped blood to my heart.

  I sat up slowly and did a double take when I noticed Joss at the dining room table reading the paper with a cup of tea. How had I not heard him there?

  “Good morning,” he said faintly.

  “Morning,” I replied automatically.

  “Were you comfortable?”

  “Yeah. Thanks.” I turned away from him and took a moment to sit quietly, thinking, waking up.

  My duffel bag rested against the couch. I
leaned down and retrieved a pair of black leggings. Fane had made up the couch with soft sheets and a thick down comforter. I flipped it aside, pulled the leggings on, and got up and headed for the bathroom.

  When I returned, Joss nodded at a plate of toast and cup of steaming tea. “I made you something to eat.”

  “Thanks,” I said, slipping into a chair across from him.

  There were three kinds of jams and a stick of butter on a plate beside the toast.

  Joss set his mug down. “I wasn’t sure what kind you’d like.”

  I looked from the jam to the toast to Joss. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

  Joss’s forehead wrinkled in confusion.

  “I’m a vampire informant, remember? I could tell my boss your name and where you live.”

  What was wrong with this vamp? He should be trying to kill me or at least kick me out while Fane was gone, not serve me tea.

  Joss leaned back in his chair, his face relaxing somewhat, but never quite enough to lose the intensity trapped in his eyes. Maybe he’d become undead with that look and had to live with it forever.

  “Francesco trusts you.”

  “Do you?”

  Joss regarded me for thirty uncomfortable seconds.

  “I only trust one person in this world. Francesco.”

  “So, Fane trusts me, you trust me by default?”

  Joss didn’t respond.

  I reached for the butter, spread a layer over the toast, then spread strawberry jam on one slice over the butter, and blueberry on the second piece.

  Joss watched my every move, but it didn’t bother me. I doubted he got out much or interacted with anyone other than Fane. In a weird way, it made me feel like a movie star. Poor guy couldn’t take his eyes off me. That made me smile for a brief second between chewing.

  “What do you do all day by yourself?” I asked.

  “I read and I work.”

  “What kind of work do you do from home?”

  Joss gave me that same mind-numbing stare before answering. “I’m a rare books dealer.”